Enigmatic Fears: A Klaus Mikaelson Story {7}

Chapter 15: How The Other Side Lives

#BlackLivesMatter

~Elijah POV~

"So what's your story?" Elijah was startled as the tall brunette came and sat down beside him.

Odessa had warned Elijah against Antoinette but had refused to go into any details. Since their move to France, Odessa had become more serious and stressed as she dealt with her inability to be with her daughter. Elijah had tried to be supportive, but he couldn't deny that it was taking a toll on him also.

"Why do you ask?"

"I just see you and your girlfriend in here all the time for the past two years." Antoinette told him. "And she is not quite subtle in her dislike of me."

"Do you know why that is?" Elijah queried.

"I have a sneaking suspicion she knows what I am." She explained nervously.

"And what are you?"

"A vampire." Elijah chuckled and shook his head at her. "What is it?"

"Based on the fact that she and I are both vampires, I doubt that to be her reasoning." He refuted but she shook her head.

"We are not the same." She said as she pointed at his ring. "If I go out in the sun, I catch fire, and other vampires like to remind me of that."

"Meaning what?"

"They threaten to tie me up and burn me in the sun." Antoinette murmured to Elijah's shock.

"Odessa would never do that."

"And she hasn't." Antoinette confirmed. "But that doesn't mean she doesn't feel the same way."

There was a long pause before Elijah spoke up again. "I don't have a story."

"That in itself is a story." She told him with a sympathetic smile.

"And what's yours?"

Antoinette smiled before regaling the vampire with her tale. "The family that turned me had all these rules about how to be a vampire. Felt like I'd suddenly entered into a convent. So I walked away. And I struggled... for years. Obsessing about my old life, the friends and family that I'd lost. And then one day I realized... it was the daylight ring."

Elijah looked at the ring on his own hand and contemplated what she had told him. "It let me live in the sun, pretending to be human. I couldn't embrace what I'd become. So I... I took the ring off again. Returned to what I'd been taught by my family. Now, their rules ground me. It's the only way that I've found happiness."

"I don't understand why the ring makes such a difference." He continued.

"Most wear the rings and mingle with the humans as if nothing had happened. As if we never died. But we did. And we can't forget that." She warned. "My death was brutal. Tied to a stake and stoned by my village. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But I'm in control now. And I get to choose: I can either slaughter my prey carelessly and lose myself in that same violence... or I can be mindful, compassionate in their last moments. When I do that, everyone benefits."

"Well how do you mean?"

"Human chemistry is a delicate thing." She elaborated. "When they die, their bodies are flooded with hormones. Terrify them and you're drinking from a well of cortisol. Blood tainted with fear."

"I've never tasted that fear."

"Elijah, that is all you've ever tasted." A mischievous look came across her face as she grinned at him. "Come with me. Let me show you how the other side lives."

"I'm not sure that would be such a good idea." Elijah replied with a shake of his head.

"I won force you to do anything you don't want to." She told him with a shrug. "Merely a suggestion."

Antoinette began to walk away from him, and Elijah found himself succumbing to the temptation. "Wait! I suppose an hour couldn't hurt."

~Odessa POV~

It had only been a few weeks since Elijah had started spending time with Antoinette, but she was already all he could talk about. And Odessa had just about had enough.

"You know, I'm thinking about taking off my ring." Elijah began.

"Oh really?"

"The way Antoinette talks about life without the ring...If you heard her, you'd think the same." Elijah continued.

"I highly doubt that." She replied with a scoff.

"Do you really hate her because she doesn't like the ring?" Elijah asked in earnest. "Because—"

"No." Odessa interjected. "And I don't hate her. I don't like her, and I definitely hate the people she comes from, but I don't hate her."

"But if you would just—"

"Not every problem can be talked away, Elijah." She said in frustration. "So drop it. Please."

"I want to."

"So do it."

"But I just don't understand what your problem with her is. And I want to."

"Then why are you asking me and not her?"

"She won't tell me either."

"Gee, I wonder why." She muttered bitterly.

"Did something happen between you two?" He asked.

"You know, the old Elijah wasn't half as persistent as you." She regretted the words as soon as they slipped out but the damage was already done.

"Well I'm sorry I'm not him."

"Elijah, I didn't mean it. Not like that."

"Well how did you mean it then?"

"This is why I asked for you to drop it!"

"I can't just leave the past behind and wait for it to catch up to me, unlike you I guess."

The two were now at an impasse. The love between them was still there, but the anger and the baggage of the past hung over it like a large black cloud.

"I need air." Elijah mumbled as he headed for the door.

"Are you going to see Antoinette?"

"Maybe. Is that a problem?"

"You can do whatever you want, Elijah." She murmured in response as tears welled in her eyes. "But you should know, when you come back, I won't be here."

Elijah stopped and turned to Odessa in shock. Her statement carried so much weight and yet she spoke like she was made of air.

"You don't mean that."

"I do."

Elijah wasn't able to hold back his tears as Odessa used every inch of her willpower to keep hers at bay.

"What can I do? Please. Tell me what you need from me."

"Nothing." She replied with a shake of her head. "We both need to deal with our pasts but in different ways. Antoinette is helping you in ways that I never could."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Elijah bellowed to an unflinching Odessa. "I need you. I love you."

"I'm sorry." Odessa told him; her voice as quiet as a mouse. "I hope she's everything you're looking for."

With clenched fists, Elijah nodded and headed for the door. He paused, hoping she would change her mind and call him back. But she didn't, and so he left.

And just like she had promised, when Elijah returned, there was not a trace of her left.